Under Comet's Tale: Judgment of the New King
by Higuchimon
Summary: Kings must deliver justice. Even when they're new at the job and don't even know they're kings yet.


**Collection Title:** Under Comet's Tale||**Title:** Judgment of the New King  
**Characters:** Juudai, Dark World Monsters||**Ship:** N/A  
**Collection:** 1-6||**Story:** 1-1||**Words:** 3,042  
**Genre:** Drama, Angst||**Rated:** G  
**Challenges:** Diversity Writing, GX canon, I24, 1-shot collection centering around 1 person: Juudai  
**Notes:** This begins moments after Juudai defeats Brron. This is also a set of six one-shots that will feature Juudai during his rule over Dark World. Each one is self-contained and will be posted by itself. **Summary:** Kings must deliver justice. Even when they're new at the job and don't even know they're kings yet.

* * *

He could hear their voices, whispered words cast among one another. Their gaze rested on him, skittering uneasily away whenever he twitched, as if he might kill them as he'd killed Brron.

It wasn't that bad of an idea, Juudai thought vaguely. They kept staring at him. They'd cheered him on when he'd fought – would they still do it so happily when he turned on them?

If. If he turned on them. Not when. He wasn't – he couldn't – he wouldn't.

Juudai started to raise his head. His fingers twitched, and someone took that as a reason to dart out of the arena, tiny noises squeaking in his throat. Juudai blinked for a heartbeat, not at all sure of what he could or should or might do about any of this.

He'd never been this unsure in his entire life. Always before he'd simply wanted to enjoy a good duel, win or lose. Losing annoyed him – it would annoy anyone, right? But it didn't upset him. Even when he'd lost against Edo that first time, he hadn't been upset. It had been – something else – that upset him then.

He swallowed and tottered to his feet. He wasn't sure if he had a coherent thought in his head. Any time he thought something, the words and images just dipped and swirled and wandered off to do something else altogether.

Juudai had no idea of what to do. No, that wasn't true. The longer he sat there, the more certain he felt that he knew what he needed to do. But he couldn't bring himself to get up, to do anything at all.

Slowly, he raised his head higher. There were still a few of the spirits that crowded the area there, but most of them had vanished, off to who knew where. He didn't care. They didn't mean anything to him.

But as he lifted his head, he saw something else: Brron's Duel Disk. One card had fallen out of it. He recognized it after a moment: Super Fusion. It still looked mostly blank, but the harder he stared at it, the more he knew what it could do.

But then his gaze shifted past that to Brron's Disk and the rest of the deck. Slowly, ever so slowly, he reached over and picked the deck up, his fingers shaking so much that he dropped the cards, each one spilling before him.

He'd seen Dark World decks before; he'd even fought against one in his first year. The duelist, a Ra Yellow, tried very hard and played the deck very well. But he'd beaten it then.

Just like he'd beaten it this time, by a duelist who had been a lot better than that half-forgotten Yellow.

But that deck hadn't had a card like Super Fusion. No card like Super Fusion existed anywhere.

Juudai stared at the cards scattered before him and automatically started to gather them up. As he did so, he could feel something twitching, and somewhere in all of that, the sensation that someone was there rose up strong and unmistakable.

"A human?" He didn't recognize the voice. But he looked up now and in front of him there stood a tall, somewhat bony creature, wrapped in a deep green cloak, holding a book close to him.

Juudai blinked once or twice more before he glanced back down at the cards in his hand and then up again. He knew this one now. _Gren, Tactician of Dark World._

"It shouldn't be possible. Humans aren't that good at dueling." This one was Beiige, Dark World's Vanguard. Complete dismissal colored his words. "What did he do to Brron-sama?"

The Hunter of Dark World, Broww, moved closer. "Well, human? What _did_ you do?" He raised his bow. "Don't think you can escape us."

"I don't know." Another Dark World monster laughed derisively. "Some of those humans can run awfully fast."

A whisper of chill followed the next to speak. "Watch your words, Goldd. There is more to this one than meets the eye. Gren, did you not say earlier that a strange human from another world defeated both Scarr and Zure?"

Gren's eyes didn't lift from Juudai. Juudai didn't even feel like replying. Still broken and disconnected words tossed themselves inside of him, nothing making its way to his lips at all.

"Yes, I did. That's why Brron-sama wanted to duel him." Gren shifted away from Juudai. "I saw a great deal of that duel. it's – not impossible that this human could have defeated him."

"You didn't see all of it?" The frost-voiced one asked. Juudai's eyes flicked around until they landed on a woman's form, tall and garbed in white, leveling a thoughtful gaze on him. Juudai tilted his head. For the first time in what he thought might be forever he spoke.

"Who are you?"

The lady of ice tilted her head into a nod of greeting. She was as bony and cold as any of the others, carrying a long staff in one hand.

"I am Snoww, Magician of Dark World. And who are you, human who has slain Brron-sama?"

Juudai swallowed. His heart lurched in his chest. Sweat tingled on his brow.

"Yuuki Juudai."

It wasn't his voice. Neos stood beside him, arms folded over his chest, fierce eyes staring at the monsters, as if he could take them all on without so much as cracking a sweat.

Juudai wasn't sure if Neos did sweat. He'd created him but he'd never thought about it, really.

But now he nodded; as long as he had his deck by his side, then he could do anything. He could even take on all of these monsters. Neos would help. All of the Elemental Heroes and Neo-Spacians would. He could feel them there, ready to stand by his side.

Snoww's gaze hadn't shifted from him by so much as a hair's breadth. "Human called Juudai, you killed Brron. The law of this world is the law of the strong over the weak – you proved that you are stronger than Brron was."

Juudai wasn't at all sure of what to say about that. He grasped for the first words that came to his lips.

"I don't care." Being strong wasn't going to bring back his friends. It wouldn't take away the words that still burned inside of his heart, seared in marks of flame and etched with Shou's voice.

Snoww's lips curved for a breath, something somewhat like a smile. He wasn't sure if it really was one or not. Did the monsters of Dark World know how to really smile?

Before he could ask that, the monster that had spoken before – Goldd – did again.

"Are you as good at running as your little friend? The squishy one? He ran so well he went right off a cliff!"

He and another one, Sillva, cackled in eerie echo of one another. Sillva tossed a glance towards where the others had been – Manjoume and Asuka, Fubuki and Kenzan – with all that was left of them being the chains they'd been in.

"Looks like he's not the only one who died, though. Brron-sama finished them off."

Ice far deeper than whatever Snoww possessed wrapped itself all around Juudai's heart and soul. When he spoke, there wasn't anything in his voice that echoed of forgiveness or kindness.

"What do you know about my friends?"

Goldd and Sillva glanced at him; Goldd answered. "Brron-sama wanted us to bring them to him. They weren't that hard to catch. A little mouthy, but we shut them up." He raised his weapon menacingly, lips parted in an expression that Juudai thought was _meant_ to be a smile. "Took us longer to run the squishy one down, though."

"And he jumped off a cliff before he let us catch him. What a wimp!" Sillva mocked, wings rustling in the pale wind. "Couldn't handle being killed with everyone else, I guess."

Brron killed his friends – set it up so that Juudai attacked even when he didn't want to. But he wouldn't have had them there to kill in the first place if these two hadn't brought them.

Hurt them.

Run Shou off a cliff.

Rage spiked in his heart. This was their fault. Still a lot of his – his mistakes with Yubel remained at the root of all of this – but they'd done enough and he wasn't going to let them get away with it.

He didn't need to duel them. He didn't _want_ to duel them. They didn't deserve that honor – they didn't deserve an honorable death in combat.

"Juudai..." Neos rested a hand on Juudai's shoulder and Juudai threw it off without a single word, stepping forward.

Anyone looking at him – Snoww and Gren, Goldd and Sillva, Beiige and Broww, all of the others there – saw Juudai's eyes melt from confused brown to furious molten gold. All around him there flared an aura of shadows, deeper and darker than any ever seen even in this world of night.

"You hurt my friends." The words fell like tiny drops of hatred. "You're not going to _live_."

Goldd laughed, raising his sword higher. "Pretty eyes, but what can you-"

Juudai gave him no time to finish the question. He moved forward, hands grasping onto Goldd's arms. Juudai caught a brief glimpse of confusion in Goldd's eye before power surged through him. Life and death were his to command – he could feel all of that power surging at his fingertips in this moment. There wasn't anything that anyone could do to stop him.

Not the Dark World monsters.

Not the Elemental Heroes.

Not the Neo-Spacians.

Not Hane Kuriboh.

In the space of a heartbeat, Goldd changed from a living, breathing creature to nothing more than dust in Juudai's hands. The echoes of his final scream hung in the air and for a few seconds, Juudai savored them. They faded far too quickly, though, and he turned to where Sillva stood. The moment those eyes touched on him, the Army God of Dark World stumbled back.

He'd seen the unrelenting, unforgiving gaze of something far beyond a god.

"Run."

Juudai said just that one word. Sillva didn't hesitate, whirled and scampered out of the gates of the fortress, covering huge amounts of territory in a matter of moments. Juudai let him run – for now. There wasn't any forgiveness in him now.

He'd done that before. He'd forgiven Kagemaru. He understood that Saiou hadn't been in control of his own actions. Yubel – Yubel hated him personally. That was his own fault.

But this was different. This was someone who hurt the people that he cared about and Juudai would _never_ forgive that.

He just wanted to play with his food. Just a little. To give Sillva the chance that Kenzan and Asuka, Fubuki and Manjoume, and _Shou_ hadn't been given.

If they hadn't chased Shou would he have thought differently when he got there? Or would he have hated Juudai regardless? Would he have listened?

Juudai didn't know. Juudai found, with a bit of amazement, that he also didn't care. What happened was what happened. Time to finish things.

He ignored Neos's attempting to speak to him. He started out of the arena, his steps taking him to a stretch of shadows. When he came out of the other side, he wasn't anywhere near the fortress's arena. He wasn't sure of where he was, but not there. He could feel that Sillva wasn't there. Too far away.

He'd have to learn to control this. He wasn't sure of what _this_ was but he liked it. It felt natural; felt right as almost nothing had since this last year of school began.

Again he entered the darkness, casting about as he did. When he stepped out again, he knew he was even farther from the fortress where he'd fought Brron. But he was closer to Sillva.

Once more he moved. And then again. He thought as he grew closer, Sillva knew he was coming. He did hope so. He wanted Sillva to fear him. He wanted Sillva to know that death stalked him.

"Juudai." Again Neos tried to tug him from this path and again Juudai ignored him. This was his decision. This was his _choice_.

Now.

Sillva stopped; probably to catch his breath, probably for a drink of water. Juudai didn't know. Didn't care. But Sillva slumped for a few moments, barely looking as if he could take another step.

He didn't need to. Juudai eliminated his need to move in moments. He didn't give a chance for talking – Sillva had nothing that Juudai wanted to hear.

"Juudai, what are you doing?" Aqua Dolphin spoke up, hovering there briefly. "This isn't -"

"Go away." Juudai said quietly. "I don't want to talk to you. To any of you."

He didn't think that he wanted to talk to anyone ever again. He could feel that it was getting close to what passed for night in this world. He started to walk, entering the shadows again. When he stepped out of them this time, he stood back in the arena. The other Dark World monsters hadn't left; stood close to one another, talking in quiet tones.

When he entered, Snoww turned towards him right away. "Has your judgment been delivered?"

Juudai nodded. No words wanted to be said, so he didn't say them. He stared again at the cards of Brron, now neatly stacked. Had he put them there like that? He didn't remember – cared even less.

But that card remained with him. He'd picked it up before they arrived – never set it back down. Now he tugged it out and stared at it again before he looked at them all. Something hung in the air – something was about to change.

"How do I create this?"

He wanted Super Fusion. His reasons were simple – if he had it, then they hadn't died in vain. If he had it, they would remain with him – Manjoume and Kenzan, Asuka and Fubuki.

Shou? No. Shou remained out there somewhere, with Jim and O'Brien. Shou didn't want anything to do with him anymore. He wasn't sure if the other two did either. He didn't think that the others did – not that they had a choice now.

He would make up for what he did. He would make up for the mistakes that he'd made, with them and with Yubel.

Gren moved forward in the brief space that those thoughts took to filter through him.

"Death. Everyone that dies near enough to that's card presence will become a part of the card. The stronger the duelist, the more they will contribute to Super Fusion's birth." Gren hesitated, cast a glance at Snoww, then back to Juudai. "The four deaths that it already soaked up did a great deal for it. The fifth person – the carrier of Doubt – could finish the card with his death."

The carrier of Doubt. Shou. It had to be Shou. Juudai didn't know what that actually _meant_ but he recognized Shou regardless.

"No. If anyone sees him – leave him alone. If – if there's a way back to where we came from, put him there. Let him go. Same for the other two with him. Just let them go."

Gren bowed low. "As you wish."

He'd given orders. An order, and someone else accepted it. He'd never done that before. He liked to bull ahead with what he wanted to do – he'd done that for so long. People listened when he wanted things – mostly.

But it hadn't been like this. They feared him – feared what he could do to them. What he _would_ do to them.

Just the thought of them not listening – of hurting someone when he'd told them not to – made him think about killing them already. They would have to know that disobeying him wasn't allowed. He'd make that very clear from now on.

"Yuuki-sama," Gren started to speak and fell silent when Juudai cut his golden gaze toward him.

Dreadful silence stretched out between them. Juudai broke it at last. He hadn't really thought in that time, but the words came regardless.

"Don't call me that. Call me " It came in a single interior bolt, a word that he'd heard once before, falling from the dying lips of Birdman. "Haou."

He hadn't understood what Birdman wanted then. He didn't know if he did now. But that would, perhaps, be a good place to begin.

"Haou-sama," Gren repeated before he dropped to his knees in front of Juudai. The other Dark World monsters followed one by one, each one murmuring his new title as they did, until only Snoww stood on her feet before him. That icy stare did not change, nor did her expression.

Then she knelt, her head bent respectfully. "Haou-sama," she acknowledged. "What are your orders?"

Orders. Right. He needed those. He needed to kill people. For Super Fusion.

All right. Better all of this entire world than Shou or Jim or O'Brien.

Or Johan. If Johan wasn't already dead.

Which he probably was. Brron said so. And if Johan wasn't dead, then so much – so much…

That thought got shoved out of his head _very_ fast. Juudai took a look around the arena and made up his mind.

"Get everyone in this place out of it. I don't want anyone to stay here. Is there another castle? Somewhere else we can move to."

Gren and Snoww exchanged a quick look and Snoww nodded. "Yes, Haou-sama. It hasn't been lived in for some time but I think it will suit your needs. It will take perhaps two cycles of the comet to reach it – at least for most people. Perhaps you can reach it more quickly."

That wasn't a really bad idea. Juudai nodded. Then he looked at the other monsters. "You're all going to do what I tell you."

No one so much as twitched a finger in denial. Juudai knew this was just the beginning. He wasn't a student anymore. Shou was right. Right and wrong.

He hadn't killed Brron to make himself a king. He hadn't done _any_ of this to make himself a king.

But now that he had the job, he was going to be very, very good at it.

* * *

**The End** **Notes:** I'm going to post a one-shot every Saturday until this little collection is finished. They should be about this length, though that may vary.


End file.
